Fortune from Misfortune
by frostedtinydragons
Summary: Both Hiccup and Jack lose someone and on their way out stumble across each other. A budding romance in the making perhaps? Or maybe they'll only stay friends? Stick along to find out. Rated T just in case.
1. Chapter 1

_**Chapter 1 - Leaving**_

"Rapunzel?" Jackson Overland's voice cracked at the sight before him. In his home. His eyes glared at one of the hugest heart-breakers; Flynn Rider.  
"J-Jack!" Rapunzel stopped immediately, she had been far too engrossed in her ordeal that she hadn't even heard him come in. "It's not what it looks like!" Her voice was panicked. She hadn't expected her boyfriend to come home for another hour. He must have finished his shift before he was meant to, which meant that the bar must have been dead. In which time, Flynn would have been gone. She couldn't look at him. At either of the two boys. She brushed her long blonde hair away from her face, as if it would cover up what she had just been doing with another man. "Really? Really, Rapunzel? It definitely looked like you were making out with… With him!" Jack snapped right back at her. He was furious. Their voices faded in his anger. It was a sight not many people would see in their lifetime. He couldn't hear a word they were saying, but he could hear that Rapunzel was nearly crying, trying to persuade him that she 'loved him'. "Of all the people, Rapunzel. Of all the people you had to pick him?"  
"This is entirely my fault, I lead her on, I-" Flynn attempted to right his wrong-doings.  
"Shut up!" Jack yelled in fury.

It was her own fault. What had he done wrong? Wasn't he good enough for her? Ignoring her, he pushed past both of them, straight into the bedroom they shared. He filled a rucksack full of things he needed. Mostly clothing, but he shoved his toothbrush in as well as his savings. Upon hearing the girl begging him not to go, he turned. "I'm done, Rapunzel. You've been eyeing him up ever since we got together! I gave up everything for you. That included my family. They clearly want me more than you though, and unlike you, they weren't lying when they said they loved me." Still ignoring her pleas, he dropped the keys to the apartment onto the floor and slammed the door behind him as he left. He could stand most things she'd put him through, but downright cheating on him? That was low. Really really low.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the Kingdom, a boy of a similar age to Jack was having a similar problem. "It's not mah fault, Heccup! It's me mum! She's meckin' me marreh a Prince just teh unite teh Kingdoms. It's not like I want tae do it." The feisty, red-headed Princess Merida told her current boyfriend. He just stood there, silent. "Please, Heccup. Say something… Anything… Please…" To Hiccup, this was the first time he had seen or heard of the Scottish Princess cry and plead. It was also the first time the brunet had nothing at all to say. Usually, Hiccup was the bubble of joy, constantly chatting and having all sorts to say. Sometimes about work, sometimes about his friends from his home town. No words came from his mouth and his expression was unreadable. Almost.

Hiccup didn't know what to say to her though. A part of him wanted to tell her it was okay, that he understood, but that would be lying. Hiccup was too honest for that. It would keep him awake at night if he deceived someone, no matter who they were. "Get out." He muttered under his breath. Obviously, it was too quite for Merida to hear. Upon her questioning look, he repeated. Louder this time. "Get out, Merida!" By the look on her face, she hadn't ever been spoken to in a way like this before. After all, she was the Princess. However, her social status didn't mean nothing to the freckled teen at this point in time. "Can't you see I'm busy working?" He gestured around, at all the swords that needed sharpening for the respectable knights of the Kingdom. "Besides, you wanted me to say something, so I did. For your benefit, I'll say it once more, and once more only. Get. Out."

Merida had ran out after that, she might have been crying but Hiccup tried not to notice. He merely frowned and returned to work. He felt awful for speaking to her like that, but it had to be done. He couldn't stay being her boyfriend when she would have to marry someone else. It honestly wasn't her fault in any way. She couldn't help being the Princess. She was being forced into marriage at such a young age as well, but it was a part of her responsibilities. Uniting the Kingdoms was what she had people preparing her for throughout her life. That's why he liked seeing her when she was more relaxed, with no pressure on her. Where she could be herself. They both enjoyed each other's company and it just ended up leading to a romantic relationship.

Hiccup preoccupied himself from his thoughts of guilt by getting on with his work. He did enjoy his work as a blacksmith. It reminded him of home and of his family. He missed them on days like these but he often felt like he didn't belong there. So when a chance to go to a big city like this, he jumped at the chance. Several swords later, he was almost done with work when he saw the King's personal knights. Panicking, he ditched what he was doing, letting the sword fall to the floor. Paying no mind to the clatter, he grabbed the brown fur vest from the coat hook, the only thing he had left of home. Pulling it on quickly, he left the weaponry.

He slipped out of the back door, which led him straight into the back alleys of the Kingdom. It was dark, cold and slightly scary, but he knew it like the back of his hand. This gave him quite a large advantage over the knights, as did his skinny frame. It helped him fit through tight squeezes. Glancing back over his shoulder briefly, he saw the guards far behind him. Despite seeing this, he continued to run even after he passed the gates of the Kingdom. Hiccup hadn't even had the time to run back to the small apartment he lived alone in. He didn't own much but what he did meant a lot to him. He may need to return one day to get them back.

He continued to run as fast as he could, not stopping until he was sure they wouldn't bother pursuing him any more. When he did stop, he almost doubled over from exhaustion. He was bent slightly, with his hands on his knees, panting like an excited dog. When his breathing finally steadied, he stood straight again. He looked around him. The area was so unfamiliar to him. He had no clue where he was, but he started to follow the road, in hopes it would lead him somewhere. The fur vest provided a small amount of heat and plenty of comfort. Luckily, the autumn breeze wasn't too cold at the moment. The anxiety of feeling lost consumed him rather quickly so he kept his head down and prayed to the Gods above that he would find somewhere to stay soon.

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**A/N: **So that's that. The first of many chapters to come. Naturally, they haven't met each other yet but it won't be long until they do ;) So yeah... Hope you enjoyed :)


	2. Chapter 2

_**Chapter 2 - First Meetings**_

Jackson had also been on his way to leave the Kingdom, although without been forced out. He was leaving for his own reasons. For a good twenty minutes, there was nothing but the road he walked by. His family lived in a small village, about an hour's walk away from the Kingdom, so he had a long way to go yet. After another ten minutes of constant walking, there were two buildings; one was a shop where you could buy almost anything you could possibly imagine. The other was a small café. Jack decided a cup of coffee and a bacon sandwich wouldn't go amiss and walked inside.

The was only one other person in the café, although he wasn't sure whether it was a boy or a girl… He was unable to see the person's face and from the back it could have been either. He shrugged it off and asked for his usual as he sat down. He often dropped in here when he made the long journey back home every couple of weeks. After thirty minutes of silence, he often enjoyed Martha's company. She was a good listener and often gave good advice, in return, Jack would leave a nice tip for her; it was the least he could do. He doubted that they got a lot of customers unless there was a group of travellers.

Hiccup had arrived a fair bit before Jack, and was sitting by himself at the other end of the counter. He only had the small amount of change he had in the jeans he was wearing. This was only enough to get him a coffee, which he was continuously stirring as he considered his options. He couldn't go back to the Kingdom. He didn't have any way of getting home… He was stuck here until someone came to visit, but they wouldn't know where he was. Hiccup was intrigued to see the popular Jackson Overland walk through the doors, but tried to remain neutral, although he couldn't help but listen in to what he was saying.

Jack had begun to explain his tricky little situation to Martha as she poured his coffee. By the time he was finished, he had bitten into the greasy bacon sandwich a few times in between his story. He set the bread down for a moment, only to pick his coffee up to take a sip. Hiccup saw this as an opportunity to speak up. He wasn't quite sure where he  
gathered the confidence from, but it might be because he didn't have anything to lose. Well, he didn't really. Jack obviously had no idea who he was so what was there to lose? Either way, he didn't really think about it much and spoke regardless of the part of him telling him just to keep quiet. "At least you weren't being tracked down and chased out of the Kingdom."

Both Martha and Jack were surprised when he spoke up. The boy had been silent ever since walking in and hadn't shown much interest at all in anything. Jack, however, had a sudden interest in the other boy, not really caring that he had been rudely listening to somebody else's conversation. He looked over at him as he swallowed. His eyes showed a genuine curiosity that was much more commonly seen in children. "What happened?" He asked after the bittersweet coffee slid down his throat.

"Well, I was really rude to the Princess," Hiccup began, but quickly cleared himself up when their eyes widened in shock. "It wasn't my fault, I got angry. She was breaking up with me so… Yeah…" He defended himself before they could judge him too quickly. "After I told her to get out, I was working you see, so didn't really have time to be dealing with it. Anyway, I think she told her father, so he sent out his guards to come and get me. As soon as I saw them coming towards the weaponry, I was out of there. I mean, I don't know what would have happened if I hadn't left but I can't exactly go back. If I do, it'll probably just happen again, but I figured that once I was out of the Kingdom, they wouldn't care about me anymore." Hiccup concluded with a slight shrug as if it was nothing as he waited for their responses. Their criticism. Something...

Nothing came. At least not in the way that he had expected them to. Jack had invited Hiccup to join him on his journey, and the freckled boy agreed without hesitation, after all, it wasn't like he had anywhere else to be. Secretly, Jack admired the boy's courage and quick thinking. Plus they both had something in common; both had just broken up with their girlfriends. As they both stood up to leave, there was a noticeable height difference between them, Hiccup being a fair bit shorter than Jack. It wasn't surprising, most people were taller than Hiccup, even Merida was. The taller boy ordered two triple chocolate muffins to go. As they walked beside the road together, they indulged in the chocolatey goodness. Hiccup had never tasted anything so delicious.

"You really didn't have to buy me anything." Hiccup said after he had finished. Jack just shrugged, "It's no problem, my treat." He smiled kindly before he began to introduce himself. "Anyway, I'm Jack."  
"I know." Hiccup spoke without thinking, not realising that it sounded a little bit creepy. So before he received any comments, or before he left Hiccup by himself, thinking he was a stalker, he explained himself. "A lot of people talk about you, you're quite the trouble maker. Girls are always swooning over you. I've seen them when you walk past; 'hi, Jack!'" He put on a girly voice at the end, a very high pitched, squeaky one, fluttering his eyelashes up at Jack as he did so. Neither could keep a straight face after that and it took them both a while to stop laughing.

Jack realised then that he didn't actually know Mr. Freckle Face's name. "So, you know me, do I get to know you?" Hiccup bit his lip, feeling nervous all of a sudden. Everybody always laughed at his name and made fun of it, even Merida, even though she had promised she wouldn't. Despite the uneasy feeling in the pit of his stomach, he muttered loud enough for Jack to hear. "I'm Hiccup." He closed his eyes, bracing himself for the hysterical laughter that was always present.

It never came.

"Is that a nickname?" Jack asked, and when Hiccup shook his head, obviously confused, Jack grinned. Again, he braced himself for laughter and giggled, but nothing of the sort came out. "Your parents are so awesome! Like seriously, your name is so unique." He continued despite the shock and confusion on Hiccup's face. "My parents gave me such a boring, common name, but yours… Hiccup is a great name! Although…" Hiccup bit his lip, not knowing what to expect. "I might just call you Freckles." Jack smirked as he poked at Hiccup's cheek, causing the smaller male to blush, "Or maybe Hic. I like Hic."

Upon gaining his confidence again, Hiccup took a deep breath. "You know, my full name us even better. Wanna hear it?" He had barely gotten the question out, but Jack was nodding eagerly. "Hiccup Horrendous Haddock… The third." Jack let out a short laugh, but not out of mockery and not to make Hiccup feel bad. Hiccup was laughing himself anyway. Jack was just amazing. This was obviously the start of a very good friendship between the two boys. For Hiccup had never told anyone his full name, ever. "Ooooh, I think I might just call you Triple H now!"

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**A/N: **Sorry it's taken a long time to upload but I've been a little bit busy. I plan to start trying to make the chapters longer so... Stay tuned?


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3 - Getting To Know Each Other**

Time seemed to fly by as the two teenagers started talking to each other properly. They exchanged many stories about their families and their home towns. Jack was slightly astonished to find out that Hiccup belonged to a tribe of Vikings. He felt slightly bad when he laughed at the name of it; The Hairy Hooligan Tribe. It just tickled him slightly. Jack had also laughed at some of Hiccup's friend's names. There was Snotlout, Fishlegs, Ruffnut, Tufnut and the only name that sounded vaguely normal was Astrid. Which he thought was quite pretty. The Viking Island itself was called Berk and Jack had been amazed when he found out that it was not also the home to Vikings, but also to dragons!

"Wait, you're not... Freaked out by any of this? Like, I mean real Vikings and actual fire breathing, flying dragons..." Jack merely shrugged, a smirk pastored to his face.  
"I've read about dragons and Vikings, so I think it's just interesting and... Impossibly and just incredible!" Hiccup was surprised by his answer, and couldn't help but wonder why he had told Jack about the secrets on the island. The brunet couldn't help but feel like Jack could keep a secret, that he was trustworthy.

"It all sounds so much more amazing than Burgess! It's just a small town and we're all friends. The scenery is pretty though, the forest is really big! I've gotton lost a lot of times in there, me and Emma went camping one time and it took us a whole week to find our way back! I mean, it was really fun because we knew that we weren't in any real danger, we had just wandered off a little too far." Hiccup had noticed that whenever Jack talked about his sister, he always lit up. His eyes clouded with mischievousness and he seemed truly happy. Happiness that pure was pretty hard to come by as you get older.

Emma was all Jack ever seemed to talk about so it was clear that he loved his sister very much. Hiccup enjoyed these stories though, it sounded nice to live in a home with a loving family. Even if Jack said that he didn't have much, Hiccup thought that Jack still had more than he has ever had. His mother was taken when he was a baby, and his father had always been distant ever since. When Jack had finished his story of the time someone called Aster had caught them stealing his eggs, Hiccup spoke up again. "So what's with the hair?"

"Oh, this?" Jack gestured up to his mess of snow white hair. Hiccup nodded in response, eagerly awaiting to hear the story behind it. "Well, as I was growing up, I used to love the snow and everytime just a small bit fell, I would be out there. A lot of the time I got so excited that I ran out without shoes or a coat. My mother used to scold me for it, but she never got angry. She was just looking out for me, like all others do. It happened so often that one time, it had just started to snow and I had ran out already. Some kid walking by asked his parents if I was Jack Frost." A small chuckle came from Jack'sips as he paused, recalling the memory in his head with ease. "Soon, every single kid was calling me Jack Frost and I was 12 at the time so I thought, 'why not make myself look even more like someone who brings the snow!'. I think I used white paint the first time I did it, I covered all of my hair in it and let it dry. It stuck up in all sorts of places and everybody found it funny. They said it looked like snowy icicles." Jack laughed again to himself. "It took weeks to get most of my natural hair colour back but people said they liked my white hair better so I've been dying it ever since. Sometimes when it fades I leave it for a little bit before I dye it again, just so people remember that my natural hair colour is brown."

Hiccup laughed a little at that last statement, "Well, if you really wanna come and be a Viking on Berk you might wanna stick to the brown." He teased as he nudged his aquaintance on his arm. Jack raised his eyebrows.  
"You think I'm Viking material?" He laughed. "I mean, it sounds amazing and dragons are so cool but... I have a family here, I can't just leave them. Not as far away as that at least." Hiccup smiled over at his new acquaintance gently, his love for his family never ceased to amaze him.  
"I know."

Jack just smiled back, knowing that Hiccup understand how he felt was something that didn't come around often. Sure other people loved their families to, but Jack... Jack had reasons why his family were so important to him. Reasons that he feared to tell others. Secrets that lay deep within him that not many people knew about. Only the select few that needed to know. This included his mother, his sister and Aster. Aster knew because he caught Jack one day. Jack needed to shut the memories away, not willing them to resurface after so long. Desperate for a change in thought patterns, he blurted out the first thing that came to mind. "So how did you lose your leg?"

Hiccup chuckled and looked down at the prosthetic leg he had in replacement of his left foot. He hadn't had much chance to change the design from the original that Gobber had made him yet. "Oh, this?" Hiccup shrugged his shoulders before answering. "It's a long story." Trying to excuse himself wasn't going to work though.  
"Trust me, Hiccup, we have plenty of time." Jack insisted with a smirk. Heaving a sigh, overexaggerated of course, Hiccup decided not to fight a losing battle and began his story.

"Well, we didn't all used to get along with the dragons, in fact, we used to kill them. Well, everybody else did, I just had to help sharpen weapons and stuff because... Um, I was a bit scrawny-"  
"You still are, Hic-" Hiccup punched Jack playfully on his arm to shut the interrupting male up.  
"Anyway, everybody else took me for a useless Viking and a waste of space, I probably wouldn't have even survived if my father wasn't the Chief. So I finially got away from the weaponry and had a erm... Like a catapult but it fired rope on rocks and was used to throw at dragons to tie like, they're legs together. I somehow managed to hit a Night Fury with it when nobody was around. Nobody had actually seen a Night Fury and was the worst and most feared dragon of all. Typically, only a Monstrous Nightmare had seen me take it down and decided to chase me across the village. It was my fault that the dragons got away with our sheep and a lot of the village was destroyed and nobody believed me when I told them I took down a Night Fury."

Jack snickered a little bit, "Oh course they wouldn't." He teased the freckled brunet with a smirk.

"I snook out to try and find where the Night Fury had fallen and... After searching almost all the Island, I found it. I wanted to kill it and proove to my dad that I was actually able to do something but... I couldn't because he looked terrified. Just like me. I cut his ropes loose and he pinned me down. I thought he was going to kill me... But he didn't. I mean, I roared at me and probably caused some slight hearing problems, but he let me live."

By this point, Jack was staring at him in amazement at his bravery.

"My dad left after that day to go search for the Dragons' Nest and he put me into dragon training with the other teens. It was probably the worst thing in the world if I'm honest. What Gobber does is he lets out the dragon and _then_ he gives you _hints_ on how to stay alive. Not fun. After the session, I went to see if I could find the dragon again and I did. He couldn't seem to fly properly and I had no idea why not. Over time I found out it was because half of his tail fin was missing, which I must have accidentally broken when I shot him down. I felt awful, because like Gobber said; a downed dragon is a dead dragon."

Hiccup seemed to pause for a moment, almost regretting what he had done right now. It wasn't long before he shook his head and continued.

"After that day I visited him regularly and gave him plenty of fish and made a left tail wing for him. It seemed to fit pretty perfectly, but almost as soon as I had put it on him, he took off. While I was on his tail! I controlled it so he could fly properly but then he tried to get rid of me. It folded back up immediately and we both fell back down. Luckily we landed in the lake so we were okay."

"What does this have anything to do with your leg?"

"Calm down, I'm getting there. Because Toothless and I were trying to figure out the tail I made for him, I learnt a lot about dragons and how to take them down without hurting them. Stroking under their chin, using a certain types of grass and none of the dragons liked eel, they're scared of them or something so I used that to my advantage as well. With me doing so well in training, it came down to just me and Astrid and apparently I won the training. But that meant that the next day I'd have to kill a dragon, which I couldn't do. I tried to leave with Toothless that night but guess who found my hiding place!?"

"Astrid?" Jack asked with an arched eyebrow.

"Astrid! She had her axe with her as well so that was intimidating. That was why Toothless came to protect me. I managed to stop them from killing one another but I had to stop Astrid from running back. I managed to get her to go on a flight with me and it was pretty nice if I'm honest. What wasn't nice though was that we soon got surrounded by other dragons, all flying to one place. Toothless couldn't get us out and we ended up at the Dragons' Nest. The thing that was in there... It was as big as the mountain it lived in! The only reason the dragons stole our food and our livestock was so that they didn't get eaten themselves!"

"A dragon ate other dragons? Isn't that cannibalism?" Jack looked a mixture of confused, disgusted, intrigued and shocked all at once. Hiccup merely shrugged in response.

"Luckily we managed to stay alive and get home safe. Astrid wanted to tell my dad since he had just got back that evening but I convinced her not to. The next day in the final test, I tried to show people that dragons weren't bad. My dad though... He had other ideas. He started yelling and scared the Monstrous Nightmare and well, it went for the first thing in sight; me."

"Is that how your lost your leg?"

"Almost there," Hiccup laughed a little at Jack's impatientness. "Toothless must have heard me screaming or something because as well as my dad and Astrid trying to get in there and saving me, he soon appeared and battled with the other dragon. Dad got angry with me, locked Toothless up and took me into a private area. I couldn't reason with him, he was a Viking. He managed to get information out of me by accident, about the dragon island. He was set on going then, using Toothless to help him get there because only a dragon can get to the island."

Hiccup swallowed the large lump in his throat, not feeling as if he should tell Jack that his father had disowned him at that point. He thought better of it and continued.

"After all the adults had gone, it was just us teens left on the island. I managed to bond with the Monstrous Nightmare at last and I assigned everyone a dragon. I flew with Astrid to the mountain and the thing inside the mountain was hunting my dad and Gobber. Snotlout, Astrid, the twins and Fishlegs helped to distract the giant dragon while I tried to free Toothless. The ships were sinking though and I nearly drowned. My dad saved me though, even after what he had said to me. He saved Toothless as well. Dad and me made up and Toothless and I flew off to help the others. I kind of had a plan formulated in my head but I wasn't sure if it would work. I didn't want my friends or my tribe to get hurt so I lead the dragon away and up into the clouds. We did all we could before the fake tail caught fire. That was it, time almost up. Just before the dragon tried to blow us up with a huge flame, I had Toothless shoot a plasma blast into it's mouth. It was so big that all the flames inside it lit up and burned the dragon inside out. I'm surprised everyone on the island survived when the dragon fell. Toothless and I were almost out of the way when the dragon's tail knocked us off course and split us up."

"Wait, you fell off Toothless? Is there where you lose your leg?"

"Oh for Thor's sake, you are just like a kid on Christmas! Be patient, I'm almost done! Yes, I had fallen off of Toothless and what happened next, I don't remember. Everything went black and I thought I was dead, after all, I was falling from really high up and into fire. Toothless must have caught up to me and saved me, or that's what I've been told. I woke up... I don't know. Weeks, maybe months later and I was alive. It was a bit of a shocker when I saw the metal instead of flesh."

Jack looked... Unhappy? Definitely not amused. "You took all that time to tell me you fell off a dragon and into it's fire, then woke up from a coma with one leg and one fake leg? You are such a drama queen, Hiccup!" A smug smirk formed on the freckled teen's lips. "What?" Jack asked, confused.

"Did you not realise I was wasting time? Look, we're here."

Sure enough, the boys had spent so much with Hiccup's tale that they had already arrived at Jack's home town of Burgess. Jack beamed the biggest grin Hiccup had ever seen. The pale teen grabbed his new found friend by the wrist and started to run.

"Come on, already! You need to meet my family!"

**A/N: **Well I tried to make them longer, hope you enjoy! The next chapter's already been started so you won't have to wait as long next time hopefully! :)


	4. Chapter 4

_**Chapter 4 - Bad News**_

**_Welcome to Burgess. _****_  
Please enjoy your stay!_**

Jack had a wave of excitement wash over him as he saw the sign that meant he was home. Without a second thought, the pale teen grasped the other's wrist. Hiccup was pulled along, although he willingly kept up with Jack. Being a small town, everyone seemed to know who Jack was. The Overland teen greeted them with enthusiasm, the responses of the children were returned with as much excitement. They must have been very happy to see him back; Jack did seem to get along with Emma's friends. The adults weren't as thrilled.

"I don't get why they seem so… Mad at me." Jack muttered a little, shoving his hands into his pockets almost in defeat. Hiccup didn't even have a chance to answer him. "I mean, I guess I have been away for a little while… But I've been busy working. Surely they understand that? Tha-that I can't just pick up and leave to visit home whenever I want!" It now appeared that Jack was the one getting angry.

He tried to say hello to someone else, a woman with a young daughter. "Hey Sophie, how are you and Jamie?" He asked as he crouched down in front of her. "Did you and Emma have that sleepover you were planning?" At those words, the girl let out a little cry before running behind her mother. Jack frowned. "What's wrong?" He asked as he looked at the woman.

"Sorry, Jack, but Emma's a touchy subject…" Had they fallen out? They were best friends, they always hung out together! Surely they hadn't… The woman read Jack's facial expression as best she could, then almost put on a brave face. "You should… You should go talk to Aster. He's closer to you than anyone else here."

That wasn't true though! It wasn't! Jack's family were the closest people to him. His mother and his sister were the most important people in the world for him. Jack shook his head, denying anything. He didn't know what had happened, but it was clearly something bad. Very bad if it affected Sophie. Sophie was the nicest, happiest kid in all of Burgess! She always had a smile on her face and even after falling down she would grin and get back up again. What had been so bad to make the girl act like this? Before the woman could say anything else, Jack walked backwards before taking off.

Hiccup stood there and watched him run. What did he do now? He had no idea where Jack was going? "Don't let him be on his own, dear." The woman piped up again, glancing at Hiccup. "He doesn't take bad news well." Hiccup frowned and watched him.  
"Where is he going?" He asked her. The young Viking had never been in this town and would surely get lost if he were to try and follow Jack.  
"To his house, probably."

After giving Hiccup directions and going over them, the teenager nodded slowly. "Okay, I think I got it, don't worry ma'am, he couldn't get rid of me now if he tried." She seemed to smile at that, glad it seemed.  
"Well that's good then, I'm glad he has found a friend like you." She smiled softly and warmly. Friends? Were he and Jack friends already? Surely not, they had only met little over an hour ago. Granted, they had told tales and laughed and ate but… "We're just acquaintances." Hiccup corrected her.  
"Really? Oh that's a shame. Never the less, just don't let him be alone." After smiling once more, the woman took hold of her daughter's hand and began walking away.  
"I will…" Hiccup murmured to himself before heading in the direction of 'Jack's house', repeating the directions the woman gave him over and over in his head.

Jack didn't understand what Sophie's mother had been trying to tell him. So he ran home. He ran to the small, cosy house that he grew up in. The one by the lake. It looked peaceful. Too quiet. There wasn't even a ripple on the lake. No smoke from the chimney. Something didn't feel right. Cautiously, he opened the wooden door slowly. "Emma?" He called out softly. When there was no answer he tried again. "Mother?"

He gulped back the lump in his throat and entered the dark house. There were no lights on. No sound. Nothing. Jack took a few steps in then heard a noise. He whirled around to find the fat ginger cat sat on the table. It mewed at him and Jack narrowed his eyes at it. Sandy was Emma's cat, named after the light golden colour of the tabby's fur. The only reason they had kept it was to keep mice and rats away.

Jack narrowed his eyes at the cat. The cat mewed again. "Where is she?" Jack asked. When the cat stared back at him, he got angry again. "Where is she?!" He shouted at the cat, slamming his hands down on the table it rested on. Almost in defence, the cat hissed and arched it's back before retreating to the window ledge. The white haired teen refused to let himself cry. Not here. "Where is she…" His voice wasn't even a whisper. It was carried off by the breeze that entered the house.

Jack hadn't closed the door when he entered. A habit of his he could never seem to get out of. He looked up again when the cat mewed. Sandy didn't look at Jack though. It never took it's eyes away from the window. The pale teen thought that he had seen something, but when he approached the glass, nothing had changed. The lake was just as still as it had been when he entered the house. "Stupid cat."

Jack stared with the ginger cat, hearing the same words over and over; talk to Aster.

Rushing out of the house, he suddenly collided with something. He fell backwards, but not with enough force to fall down. That wasn't the case for the person on the other end. Hiccup had been smacked into by a running Jack with so much force that he had been thrown onto the floor in an instance. He groaned a little and sat up, clutching his head to stop the dizziness.

Jack spat out a range of apologies, all of them merging into one in the end. Hiccup didn't really hear them, but he knew they were there. Jack's hand was being offered to him. The freckled teen took it without a second thought and was pulled up by his frien- Aquaintance. Jack was his acquaintance.

"Thanks… For knocking me down." Hiccup hit Jack around the head, not to intentionally hurt him, but to scold him. "You need to stop running off, I had to get directions to come and find you! And even then I kept getting lost!" Jack muttered another incoherent apology. Hiccup sighed and accepted it with a roll of his eyes. "Where are you running off to this time?"

"Aster's house." Jack stated simply. The name rang a bell in Hiccup's head. Jack had mention him in one of his stories on the way here, and so had that woman, actually. Hiccup persuaded Jack to walk and he reluctantly complied and fought the constant urge to run. Jack would tire himself out otherwise and Hiccup wouldn't know what to do if Jack just randomly collapsed.

They reached quite a large, pleasant looking house. There was a man sat on the front porch at a table, enjoying a hot beverage. The man had long, silvery grey hair that was tied back neatly at the nape of his neck. There was a pain in his eyes as they saw the familiar body and face that belonged to none other than Jack.

"Don't you dare look at me like that." Jack ordered him with a stern look. It was a familiar look; everybody seemed to be giving him those sad eyes today. "What's going on, Aster? Don't bother sugar coating it, I want the truth and you know I don't like waiting." Hiccup raised his eyebrows in shock. He had never thought that Jackson Overland could ever act like this. Not around anyone. He always smiled and was the cheeky chappy in the Kingdom and even a bit of a flirt at times. So this was a new side to Jack that he wasn't used to seeing.

Aster sighed and gestured to the seat opposite him. Jack dramatically rolled his eyes but hopped up the steps and sat in the offered seat. Hiccup was at a loss of what to do, if Jack didn't want him here then he would have asked him to leave, right? Almost as if reading his mind, the older male looked over at him, then back to Jack. "Do you want me to tell you while he's here or do you want to take this inside or-?"  
"He can stay. Whatever you have to tell me, he can hear it too. He's my friend."

Hiccup froze a little bit at those words, not expecting them to come from the other male's mouth. Jack considered Hiccup a friend, and that just seemed rather sudden to Hiccup. Was it because they had been talking for quite a while already? Hiccup's head hurt a little she he decided to stop thinking for the time being. Stop thinking just for a few minutes and listen to whatever the older man had to say. The young Viking approached the porch and leaned carefully against on of the beams, as there were only two seats.

"There's been an accident Jack, and there's no kind way to tell you it. Your mother and sister died. From what we know they both drowned in the lake and no one was around to save them. We had the funeral just over a week ago since we wasn't sure when you'd be coming back. I'm sorry."

That wasn't exactly the best way to break devastating news to someone, but Jack had asked for the straight up truth and that's what he got. Jack visibly paled, now looking like a ghost. Hiccup wanted to say something, anything, but he was in just as much shock as Jack and any words he tried to speak got caught in his throat.

After several, painfully long moments, Jack cleared his throat, "How…?" He appeared to be trying to get out a question bout the death, but couldn't seem to get the right words out. "When?" He tried again, and although it sounded like a reasonable question, he shook his head to himself, changing his mind again.

Aster frowned at this, "Would you like me to tell you everything I know about the accident?" This earned a slow, speechless nod from the pale boy. Aster sighed a little bit more as he put together the words in his head. "Well, it was cold, and the lake had frozen over. You had bought her skates for her birthday and she wanted to test them out."  
"So this was just a few days after I had left?" Jack questioned. Aster nodded silently before Jack gestured for him to continue.  
"She and your mother both decided to go out on the ice first thing in the morning and the sun had only just come up when I heard the crack and the screaming. I didn't see what happened, but your mother must have been trying to save Emma but because they were both wearing thick clothes to keep themselves warm, it must have forced them down and made it harder to get up. By the time I got to the lake, there was a huge hole in the middle of it and there weren't any bubbles, only ripples."  
"They died in the water?" Jack spoke up again. Aster nodded silently, just as he had before and waited patiently for any more of Jack's questions.

None ever came.

"Thank you, Aster. I knew I could count on you to tell me the truth." Jack murmured quietly after a while as he stood. "Enjoy the rest of your day." With that final remark, he pushed past Hiccup, hands in his pockets as he headed in the opposite direction of home. Hiccup watched, averting his eyes from the older male, not sure what to do now. The brunet had noticed the way Jack had been biting the insides of his cheek, possibly as a distraction. To help stop himself from crying. The tears that were brimming up in his eyes were painful to watch, although he pretended not to notice. They both did.

The grey haired male took a sip of his drink, carefully placing it back down onto the table before looking over at Hiccup. "You need to keep an eye on him, mate. He has a tendency to… React badly to upsetting news. Nearly got himself killed last time he looked this upset." Hiccup stared at him blankly before nodding. He went to turn away, to follow his friend. "Don't approach him directly, mate. It'll make him even more mad. Just… Keep an eye on him. You know, make sure he doesn't do anything stupid."

Hiccup looked back, and nodded again, almost in a way of thanking him for the advice. He didn't know where Jack would be, so he walked in the direction that the white haired teen had gone, hoping he could find him before he did anything, as Aster said, stupid.

* * *

**A/N: **I'm sorry please don't hurt me. But hey I told you that you wouldn't have to wait as long for this chapter so here you go. That should make up for feels.


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